From the mailbag...
Below is part of an email I received last night from someone in Eastern Europe, Bulgaria to be precise...
"To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist."
This quote from Obama's inaugural address, (translated into Bulgarian) was quoted --a lot-- at a public protest Jan. 21 in Sofia against against proposed state security surveillance of electronic communication in Bulgaria (the parliament is considering a "Patriot Act" type law here and people, after living through Communist repression, are unhappy with it). It is fascinating and awesome that quotes from Obama's speech, roughly 30 hours after he made the speech, are translated and cited in Eastern Europe to make a case for maintaining civil liberties.
I just thought this was all kinds of neat. It's sort of nice to have our President be someone that the world looks up to once again, don't you think?
1 comments:
I was in Europe last week on the border near Slovenia and Hungary the day before inauguration, and yes people really like Obama a lot. They remain cautious that he live up to their/our high expectations and isn't a "wolf in sheepskin". And the feeling toward Americans as a whole is a hundred times more positive than it's been over the past recent years. That said, here is a nice link I saw to a collage of newspaper headlines with reactions to Obama's election. So most of the world loves us again. I think that's grand. Let's show them we deserve it.
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